The Floor is not a Storage Space!

I feel I owe my mother an apology. I have always had the terrible habit of dropping my stuff on the floor. My shoes, my bag, magazines - basically just "stuff". Now the problem I have created is that my children follow along and they have infinitely more stuff and they drop it everywhere! Their shoes, toys, clothing, books, food, EVERYTHING! They tear up sheets of paper into tiny bits and toss it around like confetti, they eat a mandarin or a banana and leave the skin on the coffee table or worse, under the lounge. My house is a disaster and now I have to try to get the girls to pick up their stuff and this is the big problem. Cricket runs away and hides. Bug complains that she is too tired or that cleaning up is a mummy job. My husbands strategy is to ask once to have things picked up, to give a warning that the job needs to be done and then he brings in a packing box into which everything on the floor goes and the box heads for the garage. This makes the girls scream and yell and usually results in frantic cleaning up! I don't have the energy for such drama on a daily basis. I would like to ask once and have the kids start to pick things up. I am desperately trying to change my own habits in the hope that this will influence my kids. What I need is ideas for getting my kids to tidy up, anyone???

And mum, if you're reading this, sorry for all the mess!
xxx